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Friday, 31 May 2013

My friend Mo makes beautiful patchwork quilts and knowing how much I love to make fabric dresses with my Dress Up dies she very sweetly gave me some lovely pieces of fabric. I made this card to say thank you to her. However, for a change, I left the dress dies in the box (a shock I know!) and used some fabric to die cut a butterfly instead.

I stamped the doily in Elegant Eggplant ink, added a So Saffron punched circle and layered the white panel onto a So Saffron mat. I sandwiched fabric and white CS with double sided adhesive sheet and then I die cut the butterfly. I attached the butterfly to the panel with a So Saffron flower brad and tucked pearl stamens behind the brad prongs for the antennae. I adhered the whole panel to an Elegant Eggplant 5 3/4" square card base. I then die cut small So Saffron butterflies for the corners and I finished off the front by adding some purple jewels.

Here's the inside.

And here's the envelope.

Thank you SO much Mo, I'm very happy to have a gorgeous fabric stash - and I shared with Jan so she's very happy too!

So I was determined to do something with one of my alterable items that I collect and hoard but don't often actually do anything with! A few months ago I bought a lightweight wooden letter R and it has sat neglected in my craft room ever since but its time had come!

Firstly I traced round the letter onto a very pretty patterned paper and cut it out. I decided to paint the letter and I sent my hubby Owen to the shed to investigate paint options. We only had pale emulsion but I went with that as I'd chosen a pale paper and Owen very kindly painted my letter R for me. While it was drying I completely changed my mind about which paper to use and I chose a dark brown damask paper instead. Once the letter was dry I glued the patterned paper to the wooden letter. There was too much pale colour showing around the sides so I inked the edges and nooks and crannies with Walnut Stain Distress Ink which helped a bit but not enough. I decided I didn't want to keep the back of the letter pale either so off I went to the Glitter Pot to get Walnut Stain Distress Paint - that worked much better! So then I punched a hole in the letter with my trusty Crop-A-Dile and set to embellishing my letter. Some long hoarded SU! Sweet Pea felt embellishments were ideal - and some big pink bling and two ribbons finished it off.

I knew I wanted to have my letter R hanging from a tote bag that I recently acquired - for free! I have donated a lot of crafty stuff on Freegle in the last few years and a lady that had received some of my goodies in the past was offering the bag and some US stamping magazines on Freegle and I was lucky enough to get them! The bag is a Clippy tote bag made from thick clear plastic with pockets and the idea is that you place photos or other stuff in the pockets to customise the bag and make it individual to you. So here's the bag with the pockets filled and my letter R attached to the handle.

It was very difficult to get good photos because of the shiny plastic and the resulting reflections! I cut 4 1/4" x 3 1/2" pieces of old hoarded SU! patterned papers in colours that matched the Sweet Pea felt flowers - Old Olive, Rose Red and Pretty in Pink - to put in the pockets. I added more felt flowers to the Pretty in Pink pockets. I threaded Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon through Old Olive and Rose Red buttons and hot glued them to the metal snap closures to finish off the bag. I'm calling this bag my Tic Tac Tote LOL! Here's a photo of the back.

And a closer view of the front.

It's a gusseted bag so it's really roomy, plus I've got plenty of pockets to tuck my shopping list into! I love going into town shopping with my new tote - there isn't another one like it! I've hot glued the letter and buttons to the bag so I guess I'll be keeping them but I can swap out the papers and flowers in the pockets any time I like if I want a different look!

I hope you'll take part in our Inkspirational Anything Goes challenge - I bet some of you have some alterable items you could work with! ; ) The other DT members will have fab projects to inspire you so please check them out too! I'll be visiting your blogs to see your wonderful creations!

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

This is a thank you card I made for hubby after he'd ran a few errands for me and helped out while I was busy prepping for a card class. In the afternoon I went to the local craft shop, the Glitter Pot, with my friend Jan as they were holding a demonstration weekend. I saw a fence die that I really liked but it was too pricey for my liking. It turns out Jan bought the die ages ago and had never used it so she very sweetly said I could have it. Of course, us crafters want it and we want it NOW so that meant another errand for Owen after I'd got home! He happily went to collect the die from Jan so I thought a thank you card was in order at the very least!

While at the craft shop I made a beeline for the ex class and demo sale section and I picked up the Hero Arts 'Write Your Own' cling stamp for a bargain price. I really like that it looks like notepaper so I tried to play up the stationery feel for the card. I made a Basic Gray A6 size card. I stamped the image in grey ink onto white CS, trimmed it to size and punched the top edge with a spiral binding punch. I used markers to colour the scalloped portion and added black taffeta ribbon. I stamped the lips and sentiment, punched a large plain red CS heart and some smaller glitter CS hearts. I glued three hearts together, attached them to the notepaper with a crafty paper clip and popped the small hearts up. I popped up the whole panel, added the scalloped border and rounded two corners of the card.

Here's the inside and the envelope. I'm happy to say Owen loved the card!

Yesterday we went out with friends for a picnic and enjoyed clear blue skies and sunshine - today it has rained non stop so far - what a miserable change! Ideal crafting weather though!

Saturday, 25 May 2013

I'm here with an end of the week encouragement post for this week's Inkspirational sketch challenge. If you haven't taken part yet, you still have until Tuesday (noon CST) so you've got time to get creative with us, we'd love you to join in!

As soon as I saw the layout I thought of my SU! Lattice die. I die cut an Early Espresso lattice and then made a 5 1/4" square Barely Banana card base. I cut a Melon Mambo square plus two small Pink Pirouette squares which I glued on top of the Melon Mambo square and then I glued the lattice on top. I stamped the sentiment - I just love that font! - and then stamped and punched the butterflies. I folded the wings back and popped up each butterfly.

Of course, there are more butterflies inside the card and on the envelope flap!

I quite like the bold and contemporary look of this card but the sketch lends itself to any style I think. So what will you make for our challenge this week? I'm looking forward to popping by your blogs to see!

At 52 {C}CT it's time for an embellishment challenge and Mynnette has chosen Baker's Twine for us to use on our Christmas cards this week.

I die cut an Apothecary Accents label, stamped the sentiment and used the lovely SU! Peaceful Wishes set to stamp pine boughs and berries onto the label. I punched a small hole at both ends of the label, added eyelets and threaded doubled up Early Espresso twine through the eyelet holes and taped the ends to the back of the Real Red mat layer. I then glued the layer to the Early Espresso card base. I don't like how DL sized cards with the fold at the top often don't stand up too well so I made my card side opening by joining 2 pieces of CS together. I cut an A4 piece of Early Espresso CS in half lengthways, scored at 8 1/4" inches and then glued another piece of CS to the inside of the card to complete the full sized card - the join is visible only on the back of the card. I tied two twine bows and adhered them over the top of the eyelets. I inked the pine cone stamp with Soft Suede ink, stamped off once, added Early Espresso ink just around the edges with a sponge dauber and stamped. I stamped three pine cones in this way, fussy cut them, added some glitter and popped the pine cones up. I then completed the card front by adding some green candy dots.

Here's a closer view of the sparkly pine cones.

Here's the inside and the envelope.

Another Christmas card added to the box and another chance to ink up an oldie but goodie Christmas stamp set, so I'm happy! Check out the other DT member's cards as there's bound to be great inspiration on offer and then I hope you'll join in with our 52 {C}CT challenge this week. I'd love to visit your blogs to see your cards!

Thursday, 23 May 2013

I've made this card for a friend who has just undergone a hospital procedure to let her know I'm thinking of her and wishing her well. I had very colourful inky fingers when I'd finished! I picked up the Penny Black 'Constellations' flower stamp at my local craft shop, the Glitter Pot, for the staggering price of £1 - what a bargain! It was in the ex classes and demo items sale section and it was missing the label from the wooden block - not a worry for me at that price!

One of the new cards on display in the shop had a sponged distress ink background and I really liked the colours they'd used - Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean. I got out my craft mat and used an ink applicator tool to sponge the three colours onto a piece of Ranger Manila CS and after I'd blended the inks I spritzed water onto the piece and dried it with my heat tool. I stamped the 'Constellations' three times, stamped the sentiment, trimmed the panel to size and layered onto black and Tumbled Glass mats. I had some pretty sponged CS left over from trimming the panel to size and I stamped a few butterflies, punched them out and I placed one on the card front. I applied Star Dust Stickles to the flowers for a sparkly finish.

I placed more butterflies inside and one on the envelope flap.

A closer view of the butterflies. A messy technique but so very satisfying!

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

A few days ago I saw a card at my local craft shop, the Glitter Pot, with a wobble spring gnome on it and I thought it was adorable! Gnomes would not normally feature on my 'must have' list but I just found the little fella so appealing and irresistible! The shop have a sale section where they sell items used in classes and demos at fab reduced prices and whaddya know, there he was - so I just had to bring him 'gnome' with me - sorry!

The Real Red card base measures 5 1/4" square. I stamped my clouds background, stamped the sentiment, added some grassy paper and the die cut fence pieces. I stamped the gnome onto watercolour paper and used inks and a waterbrush to colour him in. After fussy cutting him I attached the wobble spring and placed him on the card. I then inked and stamped just the flowers from the image, coloured them, fussy cut them and popped them up. Finally, I added three teeny tiny punched butterflies with jewels.

Here's a short video so you can see the wobble action!

Here's the inside.

I couldn't resist putting a scene on the front of the envelope! I sponged Bashful Blue ink for sky, added grassy paper, more fence die cuts, a bird and a couple of butterflies. I punched pink flowers, shaped them, glued them onto the grass and added silver pen dots to the centres. The flower punch I used punches out the ten flowers all in one go - very handy!

I had a goofy smile on my face all the time I was making this card! I will be giving it to my friend Jan at our June card group meeting as it's her birthday that day. I think that she will get a kick out of this fun and cute card! I can see that gnome getting lots of wobble action that day from my card group ladies LOL!

Monday, 20 May 2013

Sweet Michelle from the Card Grotto sent me a beautiful card and some pretty crafty goodies as a gift for my birthday last month and this is the thank you card I sent to her. I know Michelle likes purple and I just happen to have some purple and silver fabric in my stash that I thought would be perfect for a dress! It's been a couple of weeks since I featured a dress card on the blog - I'm not QUITE so obsessed now LOL!

I die cut the dress form and the leaves from silver metallic card and die cut the dress and flower using the fabric. I used some self adhesive white lace trim as a bodice detail and added silver lurex ribbon and a flower shaped button as a sash. I stamped the lace strip in silver pigment ink onto a separate piece of CS, heat set it with my heat tool and cut it out. I added the leafy stem to the lace strip, placed a rhinestone brad in the flower centre and popped the flower up.

Here's a close up photo so you can see the pattern of the fabric more clearly. The metallic silver spattering looks so lovely against the purples!

Here's the inside with a sentiment, another lace strip and a sweet die cut handbag with a tiny rhinestone brad embellishment.

Here's the front of the envelope - more stamped lacy loveliness - I do love a pretty lace stamp!

Saturday, 18 May 2013

The perfect challenge for me to use my very sweet Cupcake Snowman stamp! I inked the stamp with VersaMark before inking with Early Espresso ink and then I heat embossed the image with clear powder. I used inks and a blender pen to add colour, fussy cut the image and added Star Dust Stickles so my sweet treat is sparkly. I thought a doily would be a good accent to go with the cupcake and I die cut a Pool Party doily and an Early Espresso mat. I decided to keep the circle vibe going and used my Circle Scissor tool to made a 5 1/4" circular card base. I added a white mat layer plus the doily and cut a smidgen off the bottom of the card so it stands up nicely. I added an Espresso circle to the centre of the doily, stamped and die cut the sentiment label, popped up the snowman and added snowflakes with jewel centres.

Here's the inside.

For the front of the envelope I used an unmounted snowflake wheel to stamp the border and simply layered it onto an Espresso mat.

So that's what I made, now it's your turn to have some fun with this week's 52 {C}CT challenge! Before you get inky check out the other sweet inspiration on offer from the rest of the DT. I'm so looking forward to visiting your blogs to see your cards!

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Sandie is my friend and a fellow DT member at Inkspirational and it's her birthday today. Sandie is a CAS girl and likes purple so I kept those things in mind when making her card. One of my fave CAS card designs is this one made by Susan. I've CASEd Susan's design before (click here to see) and decided to have another go at it for Sandie's birthday card.

The card is a side opening A6 size made from Wisteria Wonder CS. I stamped the softer images in Wisteria Wonder and Certainly Celery inks that had been stamped off twice on scrap paper and then stamped the bolder images using full strength Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive inks. I stamped the sentiment, added the scored lines and cut out the images with a rectangle Nestabilities die. I popped up the three white panels and decided to add a butterfly to each panel. This card is now not quite as CAS as Susan's original design but if ever adding butterflies is wrong then I don't want to be right LOL! I added a rhinestone jewel to each butterfly and then went to work on the inside.

Here's the stamped panel inside the card - and I sneaked a butterfly in too!

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

At Inkspirational we have a CASE challenge for you this week. We want you to CASE a lovely card made by Lee Conrey - click here to see Lee's original blog post.

I really liked Lee's layout, the wide ribbon strip and the rounded corners so that's what made it into my CASEd version. My card measures 5 1/4" square and the base was made with Melon Mambo CS. I stamped the flourish from the Creative Elements set onto Whisper White CS using brown StazOn ink and used inks and a blender pen to colour in the image. I cut the white panel to size and rounded the bottom corners with my new toy, a Fiskars scallop corner punch - me likey! I then cut a Choc Chip layer, rounded the bottom corners and added a strip of Choc Chip satin ribbon. I stamped the sentiment and a butterfly which I fussy cut and popped up. I love the gorgeous bow Lee has on her card but I'm not sure I could pull that off so I played it safe by adding a flat bow! I was liking my new scallop corner punch very much and I wasn't quite done with it yet. I punched two scalloped corners from Lucky Limeade CS, then went in with a square punch and cut out two corner details that I glued to the top of the white panel. I added a few pearls to complete the card front.

Here's the inside and the envelope flap. I thought the stamped butterfly was a tad large for inside so I glued the stamped one to the envelope flap and glued a punched Bitty Butterfly inside. Just plain rounded corners for inside - I decided against more scalloped corners!

Would you like a chance to win some blog candy? It was Mynnette's birthday on Monday so the Inkspirational DT had a blog hop in her honour and there's a prize on offer. If you hop along and leave a comment on each blog by Thursday 5.00 pm (EST) you're in with a chance of winning! Click here for the blog hop post - happy hopping and good luck!

Monday, 13 May 2013

Today is the marvellous Mynnette's birthday and a blog hop has been arranged in her honour. Happy Birthday Mynnette, I hope you enjoy your surprise blog hop and have a wonderful day! If you are hopping along you came here from the very sweet Sandie's London Days blog, welcome!

To celebrate we have birthday cards for Mynnette and we also have blog candy on offer! In order to have a chance to win, you need to visit each blog and leave
a comment on each one, including this one. You will have until 5:00 PM EST
on Thursday May 16th to leave your comment. One of the sites will be
randomly chosen and we will randomly choose a winner from the comments on
that site, using Random.org. The winner will be posted Friday May 17th!

Our instructions were to go to Mynnette's blog, choose one of her cards to CASE and then make our version into a birthday card. Sounds all fine and dandy doesn't it, nice and easy? Have you ANY idea how many fabulous creations are on Mynnette's blog to choose from?! I spent hours - happy hours I must say! - at On a Stampage. I set up a secret board on Pinterest and as I came across CASE candidate cards I pinned. I kept pinning, then I narrowed it down and I finally chose this beautiful card to CASE.

Here is my version. I stayed pretty faithful to Mynnette's card, I just changed the colours and used a doily in place of the scalloped circles.

To make the flower and leaves I did some 'messy work' as my friend Jan calls it. For messy work I place my craft mat on my desk, pat ink pads on it, spritz the mat with water and then smoosh a piece of CS around until the piece is covered. I dry the piece with a heat tool, stamp the images and fussy cut them. For the flower I used Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Melon Mambo inks and for the leaves I used Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive inks. It's such a satisfying, fun technique but you do get very inky hands!

I punched a circle of Old Olive dotty paper to go inside a builder brad to embellish my flower centre. After I'd stamped the sentiment I wished I'd used two different colours so I then stamped it again on a separate piece of CS in Old Olive ink, cut out the words and glued them over the top. I popped up the doily and the flower and added the Mynnette signature bling!

Here's the inside.

Here's the front of the envelope.

Your next stop on the blog hop is Yvonne's blog Journey Into Artistry. Happy hopping - don't forget to leave comments as you hop to be in with a chance of winning the blog candy!

About Me

Hello, I'm Ruth Muzeen and I live with my hubby Owen and our cat Tingha in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.
Thanks for visiting to look at my creations, please click on a card photo in any blog post to get a larger view. I have categorised albums of my cards available to view on Google Photos. Just click on the category name to go to the relevant album. Please do leave any comments you have, it will be so nice to hear from you! For more info, please see the About Me - Extended tab up at the top.